Trans-Migration

Bria sat back, watching as Nikolai finished the last of the automatons. She’d let them take point in this encounter, and their levels were growing faster than hers ever did. It was a wonder that more people didn’t go out and face the dangers of the other side, especially when there were tangible gains to be made for fighting monsters. Yet, these men were career soldiers that didn’t hesitate to employ violence when necessary. Most people weren’t like that—the average person would freeze up when their life was on the line—which was why so many elected to stay safe within their cities and villages.

“Congrats on level four,” Bria said cheerfully.

Once again she got to watch the two men be total bros to one another, grinning wide at their accomplishment. Mister Ruiz just shook his head and muttered off to the side, still refusing to step in and get in on the experience. At least someone was having a good time of it, even if their employer was being a grouch about it.

“Those two need to just kiss already,” Neth said with a huff.

Bria choked on air, not having expected it. Yet, now that she thought about it, those two were awfully close with one another. Actually, they weren’t all that different from how Neth and Bria acted with one another while she was still being dense.

“Great, now I can’t unsee it,” Bria muttered. “Were we this obvious to Gil and Krow?”

Neth grinned. “Worse, my dear. You were so oblivious when I flirted with you.”

“Just kill me,” Bria muttered, smiling despite herself. “You were flirting with me from the moment you learned my name in the system, weren’t you?”

“Close enough,” Neth confirmed. “Mostly I was just teasing you and hoping to ease your acceptance of yourself, but somewhere along the way those teasing statements turned genuine. I remain uncertain if it is wise for us to become involved, but I see no reason for us to not make the attempt.”

Hearing the uncertainty hurt, but Bria had to stop and consider just how new everything was to her. First, she had never been in a relationship before. Not even a true crush given how few people even close to her own age lived on the island. Second, Bria was new to being a girl herself, let alone dating one. There was a lot that could prove troublesome with that the more she thought about it.

“Are the two of you finished with your little moment yet?” Mister Ruiz asked with some irritation. “I would like to finish mapping out this facility before I die of old age.”

Bria rolled her eyes, but took the hint. She flashed an apologetic smile at Neth, then pressed on. The first room of the basement wasn’t too different from the upper floor, and held nothing but weaker enemies. It was perfect for the Russians to clear for an easy level and wouldn’t have done too much for Neth’s own experience given she had just leveled recently.

She also knew that they were hitting the level range where it started taking more and more enemies to gain that next burst of power. She hoped that they didn’t follow her example and rush into danger just to feel like they weren’t holding everyone back. It was all too easy to end up in a situation where you ended up in over your head and died.

If not for her own magic, Bria would have died in the catacombs.

Checking her own experience, she was once again reminded that even if she actively joined in, it wouldn’t make that big of a dent in the experience needed to reach level ten. She needed well over a thousand experience to reach that threshold.

The next room was filled with the whirl of conveyor belts as inactive machines moved along an assembly line, each being tended to by single arms that would attach or weld the next part. Dozens of the things moved in perfect synchronization, producing what appeared to be an unlimited amount of the automatons.

Bria took it all in, mouth agape as memories of sci-fi movies trailed through her mind. If these had been built continuously over even the past couple hundred years, there could be enough of them to overwhelm even the greatest armies the world could muster. Civilians would die by the tens of millions, and there would be little they could do to stop it.

“What the…” Mister Ruiz trailed off. “Is this facility manufacturing an army?”

“Looks like,” Boris said, his face hard.

Right, the former soldiers would recognize the danger far better than she ever could. It just meant they needed to clear the dungeon, find whatever is powering everything, and smash it to bits. That crystal they could see at the start seemed obvious, but it could also be a ruse. The last thing they needed was for it to end up being the power core keeping everything from waking up and running rampant.

“We will need to proceed with caution,” Mister Ruiz said. “If word were to get out, those in power might just decide that the world is better off without this island in particular.”

“Does that happen often?” Neth asked.

Mister Ruiz regarded her for a moment, then sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “More than most would realize. I am not particularly well connected compared to some of my friends, but I do hear the gossip. There have absolutely been entire bastions erased in the past just to keep a lid on one disaster or another.”

Bria shuddered at the thought, having seen plenty of footage on the news of ongoing wars the world over. Would they really do that to her home? Even imagining it was proving difficult, but she had little reason to doubt the man’s warning. So, she marched forward, looking for the next machines to fight, and found them guarding the way deeper into the production facility. She was feeling a bit restless, and stepped forward.

“Dibs,” Bria said, taking the battle to them.

The first was low level and went down in a single stroke of her blade. That still gave the other the opportunity to slam directly into her, pushing Bria away from the crumbling machine as she wished she could spare the mana to recast [Bulwark]. Shifting her leg, Bria managed to brace and stop the wild charge of the second automaton. Then, she brought down her new shield and shattered its limbs in one swipe.

Yeah, she liked her new gear.

With that clear, Bria took a breath as she stood and worked out stiffness that wasn’t really there. Both machines were low level, giving her only a trickle of points. These machines weren’t meant to be high powered to crush mighty foes. They were the type that would overwhelm the average city in mass numbers if unleashed.

They pressed on, clearing their way through the production floor one group of machines at a time. Despite everything, Bria didn’t get to handle each group. Her experience suffered for it, but she knew that having two more capable hands would be worth more than hitting level ten on her own.

The path looped back up after reaching the end of a production line where the first piece was slotted in. Back up top, they were far closer to the massive gem than she expected, which meant it wasn’t actually the core of the dungeon, but something else caught her attention about it. There were pipes arching with energy being directed away, and it left Bria curious.

Just what was that machine powering?

Mister Ruiz seemed to be having similar thoughts. “We should investigate.”

“Should we?” Neth asked, giving the man a significant look. “There is still plenty more to explore and we are all at risk of running out of mana if we encounter something dangerous.”

“Do you not recover upon gaining a level?” Mister Ruiz asked, and even Bria could pick up the sarcasm in his tone. “Nikolai and Boris are both near enough to full, and I do believe Bria should be reaching her next level soon with how much she has been pushing herself.”

Experience: 847/2048

“Not quite,” she conceded, not wanting him to know exactly how far off she was, but the smaller machines only did so much for her. “Exploring would do us good, especially if everyone can get a bit stronger.”

Mister Ruiz tsked. “I’m afraid that isn’t your decision to make, child. Boris, Nikolai, investigate that crystal.”

Neth’s eyes widened and Bria grit her teeth. Just like that, he had thrown a wrench into the plan to properly investigate the place and accumulate more overall power. She wanted to scream, but Bria knew that wasn’t productive. Worse, it felt like he was ignoring their experience.

As Nikolai worked on finding a way up, Neth moved closer to Bria, whispering under her breath in a way nobody else would be able to hear. “There is nothing worse than a man who thinks he knows best.”

“He’s going to get them killed,” Bria agreed. “I’m not sure we’re strong enough to step in if there’s a bigger machine.”

Neth grimaced, patting Bumble’s head as the little critter poked her head out for a moment. “You know there will be.”

“Especially after I just jinxed us,” Bria said, sighing. “Well, shall we go save the boys from their boss’s foolishness?”

“If we must,” Neth agreed.

Boris had boosted Nikolai up using their enhanced strength, clearing the nearly forty foot difference between levels in a single bound. It was a good reminder of how even just a few levels could drastically influence a person’s physical prowess. Such a stunt would be unthinkable to Bria just over a month ago.

Nikolai stood on the edge, looking around, then knelt and dropped a rope. Mister Ruiz did the unthinkable; he climbed onto Boris’ back. The man jumped, and grabbed the rope, climbing the rest of the way as if the weight of a man didn’t matter in the slightest. A brief look was shared between Neth and Bria, and the pair took a running jump, clearing the height with ease, and joining the others up top.

The crystal was suspended in a glass tube, spinning slowly in some liquid solution that looked to be circulating in some way. Energy would jump from the crystal towards several metal rods that then guided it into the pipes leading away. More than that, there was a door leading into the room beyond that was sealed shut.

“Well, if that isn’t a trap I’ll eat a shoe,” Bria said.

“Everything about this place is a trap,” Mister Ruiz countered. “Good thing I have the four of you to deal with such inconveniences.”

Bria glared at the man, but he simply ignored it, looking over the device generating power in some arcane way. Stepping over to the two men, Bria joined them in looking for some sort of key or lever that might lead deeper into the structure. The minutes passed, and Bria recovered another point of mana, even if it was only a drop in her already low reserves.

“Maybe we should have come up here the normal way,” Bria suggested with a chuckle. “These sorts of things usually need to be done in a certain order before you can progress.”

“Then get to work,” Mister Ruiz said. “This is the most interesting discovery I’ve seen on this island yet, and I want to know everything about it.”

“You’re not the only one,” Bria muttered, moving off.

Neth walked back to the edge, looking out over the facility. “Is it bad I want to grab Boris and Nikolai and leave that man here to find his own way?”

“Eh, he’s just excited to finally have something that isn’t just a dusty scroll,” Bria said. “He’ll mellow out once we find something substantial.”

Speaking of, the door had a slot beside it, one that was almost familiar to her.

“Why does that look like it might fit the amulets that let us cross between worlds?” Neth asked.

Bria grinned. “Because that’s exactly what they are!”

She quickly slotted hers in, then looked over at Neth as she grinned. The woman rolled her eyes, then stepped to the other side where a matching indentation awaited. Her own matched and something flashed brightly.

“Eureka!” Bria shouted, pumping her fist as the door slid open.

“Much more like it,” Mister Ruiz said, stepping over with his arms behind his back. “Now, since you insisted that there would be dangers within, ladies first.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, but practically skipped inside with a smile on her face. It felt good for people to recognize her gender by the people she had known her entire life. Bria entered the new room, euphoric, yet on edge for whatever might come. The air was charged, and it was hard to miss the glowing barrier that blocked off a keystone from easy access. Well, that explained why the defenses were so overbuilt, but it had still been easy enough for a handful of stronger individuals to access.

The lights kicked on with a flash, nearly blinding Bria as she held her shield up high to keep the worst of the harsh light off her. Neth hurried beside her, staff at the ready as Bria got a look at the guardians of the keystone.

Plural.

Twin beasts of steel stood tall on six legs, clearly following the familiar template. That however, was where the similarities ended. Rather than grasping their equipment, each arm had a blade grafted firmly to it, with grabbing hands and armored plating that would function far better than any loose shield. The legs held barbs, making each of them potentially deadly from new angles. And to finish it off was a mechanical tail, the tip sparking with that same energy.

Both machines focused in on her, whirling to life as their eyes lit up and the blades along their arms snapped to full length. Bria grinned sheepishly, looking up at the advancing hulks.

[Security Automaton Lv. 15]

“Well, this is gonna suck.”